Determinate variety tomatoes need to be trellised. Unlike processing tomatoes which are not trellised and in most very large commercial farms, harvested by mechanical means, which means processing tomatoes are only harvested once.  Determinate fresh tomatoes ( such as the standard beefsteak tomato varieties) are harvested during a period of 90-120 days depending on the [...]

Tomatoes are warm season crops. So unless your winters are warm, you will not be able to plant in the winter. The average farmer will plant as early as possible so that he can be first on the market. So being first is good for the bottom line, but there might be a late cold [...]

Harvesting field grown tomatoes is a labour intensive process.  Unlike processing tomatoes which can be harvested mechanically, field grown trellised tomatoes has to be harvested by hand. The sorting can be done mechanically. Tomato fruit ripen according to temperature.  The ripening process is initiated by the hormone ethylene. In long life tomatoes, ethylene release is [...]

Solving the mystery of the two main types of tomato plants Indeterminate tomato varieties will grow 'forever'.  So they can grow over two seasons. Determinate varieties die after about 100 days.  If you have a very short season to grow your tomato crop it is cheaper to buy a determinate variety, but if you want [...]

When Jan van Riebeeck landed in the Cape on the 6th April 1652, one of the first priorities was to establish a vegetable industry to provide passing ships with fresh produce.  It was not until the 19th century, with the discovery of gold and diamonds, that the vegetable industry started to develop and expand into [...]

Quality is one of those elusive characteristics upon which so much depends but about which is so little known.  The number of definitions for quality probably equals the number of writers on the subject and the various interpretations range from those of extreme simplicity to others which are complicated and detailed.  It is important to [...]

Vegetables are sold in various from of packaging depending on the quality and quantity of the product and the price the farmer would like to obtain.  The trend is to pack high quality vegetables into smaller quantities i.e. smaller packaging and lower quality vegetables in to larger containers or sell them in bulk.  Thus the [...]

Marketing is the distribution, promotion and direction of horticultural products or services to your customers.  Marketing includes a wide range of activities and starts at selecting a name of your farm and produce, its location and how you will interact with clients and customers.  All businesses marketing environment consist of: Product Price Place and Promotion [...]